November 2023 - Honda City Petrol, Hybrid Petrol Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

Updated: This update of the Honda City petrol variants explained article includes the latest November 2023 prices of the 5th gen Honda City facelift. This article also includes the City’s dimension comparison with the next-gen Verna 2023.

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What Are The Pros And Cons Of Honda City Petrol?

The pros or advantages of Honda City petrol are:

• ADAS features available in V variant with manual as well as automatic transmission
• 3 engine-transmission combinations to choose from: petrol-manual, petrol-automatic and hybrid petrol-automatic
• Very well-equipped V variant offers phenomenal value for money and should suffice for most sedan buyers
• Good number of standard safety features (ESP, TC, HSA, 4 airbags, projector headlamps, rear defogger, rear camera, TPMS, 5x 3-point seatbelts)
• The highly-fuel efficient hybrid promises 27.13kmpl along with class-leading torque output from near-zero RPMs

The Honda City petrol has the following shortcomings or problems:

• Hybrid petrol engine is obscenely expensive (with current fuel prices in Delhi and official mileage figures, it’ll take you more than 2,00,000km to recover the higher upfront cost for the hybrid powertrain — even after factoring in the perceived value of the features and better performance)
• 185-section tyres even in the top variants are too narrow for a car of this size and price; even the Baleno has wider tyres
• No turbo petrol engine option

What Is The Price Of Honda City Petrol Variants?

The 5th gen Honda City is available in 4 variants - SV, V, VX and ZX. All 4 variants are available with the petrol-manual powertrain while the higher 3 also get the option of CVT automatic transmission for an additional Rs. 1.25 lakh. The petrol-manual variants cost between Rs. 11.63 lakh and Rs. 14.86 lakh (ex-showroom). The City petrol-automatic variants start from Rs. 13.76 lakh and top out at Rs. 16.11 lakh.

The mid-spec V and the City’s top model also get the option of hybrid powertrain with automatic transmission. The City V hybrid and ZX hybrid cost Rs. 18.89 lakh and Rs. 20.39 lakh, respectively. Compared to the petrol-automatic variants, the respective hybrid options have a Rs. 5.13 lakh and Rs. 4.28 lakh higher ex-showroom price.

Honda City Petrol SV - Base Model Standard Features

The base SV variant of the 5th gen Honda City costs Rs. 11.63 lakh and it’s only available with the manual transmission. The notable standard features of the 5th-gen City petrol are:

The only features you may miss in this variant are:

• Alloy wheels
• Cruise control
• Wireless phone connectivity
• Fog lamps

As you can see, the base variant of the City is very well equipped and gets all of the must-have features. For most buyers, this variant will suffice and will offer a decent ownership experience. It’s especially suitable for budget buyers who are absolutely against having ADAS features. For most buyers, we’ll strongly recommend upgrading to the higher V variant, which offers better value for money even if you exclude the ADAS features. With the perceived value of the ADAS factored in, the higher V variant offers bonkers value for money.

Honda City Petrol SV vs V Variant - Price, Feature Comparison

The V variant of the new Honda City is available with all 3 powertrain options. With the petrol-manual, it costs Rs. 12.51 lakh, which is Rs. 88,000 more than the base variant. For an additional Rs. 1.25 lakh, you can buy the petrol-automatic as it costs Rs. 13.76 lakh (ex-showroom). The V variant is also available with the hybrid powertrain for an additional Rs. 5.13 lakh. While the price jump for the hybrid powertrain may seem too high at first glance, it’s worth noting that it gets some exclusive additional features.

For the additional sum, you get the following notable features over the City base model:

The City hybrid adds the following notable features over the City V petrol:

For petrol-manual and petrol-automatic buyers, the City V variant is the best option. It offers the best value for money and doesn’t miss out on any must-have feature we expect from a car at this price. Even if you don’t want the ADAS features, the other features alone justify the upgrade to the V trim over the SV.

If you are absolutely interested in the City hybrid, then it’s worth noting that even after factoring in the cost of the additional features over the City petrol-automatic and the value of better performance, the City hybrid only justifies about Rs. 1.20 lakh worth of price jump. So, you have to recover almost Rs. 4.0 lakh from the lower fuel costs.

With the official mileage figures and fuel cost in Delhi, you can expect to recover this in about 2.20 lakh kilometres. Therefore, we’ll not recommend buying the City hybrid just for the better fuel efficiency. You can consider this upgrade for the features or performance, but know that this is not a value for money upgrade at all.

Honda City Petrol V vs VX Variant - Price, Feature Comparison

The Honda City VX petrol costs Rs. 13.63 lakh (manual transmission) and Rs. 14.88 lakh (automatic). These prices are Rs. 1.12 lakh higher than the V variant.

For this price gap, this variant adds the following notable features:

For the additional safety and style features, you can upgrade to the VX variant. Otherwise, the V variant is satisfactorily loaded with features and offers far better value than the VX variant.

Honda City Petrol VX vs ZX Variant - Price, Feature Comparison

The Honda City ZX petrol costs Rs. 14.86 lakh with the manual and Rs. 16.11 lakh with the automatic transmission. These prices are Rs. 1.23 lakh higher than the VX variant. The City ZX is also available with the hybrid powertrain with the automatic transmission. It’s almost Rs. 4.28 lakh more expensive than the ZX normal petrol-automatic.

The ZX variant adds the following features over the lower VX variant:

The ZX variant mostly adds good-to-have features and doesn’t offer better value than the lower VX variant either. Financially, it doesn’t make sense to upgrade to this variant, but you can consider this jump if you value these features. Thanks to the significant value boost from the V variant’s ADAS features, both higher trims justify the upgrade over the base model of the City.

Which Variant Of The Honda City Petrol Should You Buy?

The base SV variant offers a balanced set of features and covers the basics quite well. However, we’ll highly recommend upgrading to the V variant as it offers phenomenal value for money because of the ADAS features. Even if you exclude the ADAS features of the V variant, it still justifies the upgrade cost. So, we’ll strongly recommend the upgrade to the V variant for all City petrol-manual and automatic buyers. It also wins our top recommendation among all variants of the new Honda City.

From there, the VX variant is worth considering for the safety and style upgrades but the ZX variant doesn’t feel like a compelling upgrade at all.

Because of the higher upfront cost of the hybrid powertrain, we’ll not recommend buyers to consider this variant for its better fuel efficiency alone. With the official mileage figures and fuel prices in Delhi, you should expect to recover the higher upfront cost in about 2.10 - 2.30 lakh kilometres. This is too high to even consider buying the City hybrid. Mind you, this is after factoring in the performance and additional features you get with the hybrid powertrain.

So, you should buy the City hybrid knowing well in advance that you can’t expect to save money with this powertrain. If you have made up your mind about buying the City hybrid, then the V variant is a better choice than the City ZX.

What Are The Engine Specifications Of The Honda City Petrol?

The Honda City’s normal petrol engine is better than the older City’s engine. It makes a littler better power and it delivers its peak torque a littler sooner in the RPM range. The 5th gen City also gets a 6-speed manual transmission while the older City had a 5-speed transmission. The mileage figures also show a marginal improvement over the older City.

However, neither the mileage figures nor the torque output of the new City are setting any benchmarks in the segment. Even the Virtus and Slavia 1.0L turbo petrol engine has a higher torque output than the City’s 1.5L normal petrol engine. Moreover, it’s available at a much lower RPM and for most of the rev band. Thus, the Virtus and Slavia with their base turbo petrol engines will offer better drivability than the City petrol along with better fuel efficiency.

Only the hybrid petrol engine of the City offers notable advantages over its rivals. It has a segment-best 253Nm of peak torque coming in early at near-zero RPMs. While the Verna also has similar torque output, its torque comes at a slightly higher RPMs. The City hybrid also offers a phenomenal mileage figure of 27.13kmpl. But, it doesn’t justify the cost of upgrading over the City with the normal petrol-automatic powertrain.

*Estimated

You can use our Fuel Cost Calculator to see how much any petrol, diesel or CNG car will cost to run based on the latest fuel price in your city.

V3Cars Fuel Cost Calculator

What Are The Dimensions Of The Honda City?

In terms of dimensions, the new City was the first car with a length of more than 4.5 metres. But now, almost all C-segment sedans measure more than 4.5m. Only the Ciaz is a shade under 4500mm. In this segment, the new Verna is the widest while the Virtus is the longest. The other notable thing about the Slavia and Virtus is their SUV-like ground clearance, which makes them very practical for Indian road conditions. This also eliminates the need to buy a tall SUV and makes them great cross country touring cars.

The thing that hurts the City the most is its tyre size. It has the narrowest tyres in the segment. Even its top variant offers 185-section tyres when the Baleno has wider tyres despite belonging to a lower segment.

*Estimated

Find out how you can get the best mileage or fuel efficiency from your car:

10 Tips To Get Better Mileage From Your Petrol, Diesel Or CNG Car

What Are The Colour Options Of The Honda City Petrol?

The 2023 City petrol is available in the following 6 colours:

• White (+Rs. 8,000)
• Blue (+Rs. 8,000)
• Red
• Brown
• Grey
• Silver

Note: Here is a quick look at our length-based segmentation of cars to give you an idea of how we are classifying cars based on their size.

Also Read: Car Segments Explained - With Body Styles And Examples